It comes as little surprise that Chinese stocks have resumed their rout in dramatic fashion, despite the government’s best efforts to stabilize prices. On Monday, the Shanghai Composite Index plunged 8.5 percent, resuming the selloff that began back in June. The price decline had been stopped for the past three weeks by a series of extraordinary measures that included halted trading, forced buying from brokerages and the cessation of IPOs.

But, as demonstrated by 11th century Scandinavian King Canute and the tide, there are limits to the power of official decree. On Friday, the China Flash PMI showed a sharp decline in manufacturing activity, which was followed by a report of falling industrial profits on Monday. After rising 152 percent for the past year through June 12, the Shanghai Composite fell 32 percent through July 8. The index then began to rise following the government’s intervention, eventually climbing 18 percent through last Thursday.

MINNEAPOLIS – July 22, 2015 – The Board of Directors of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.67 per common share payable on August 14, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 3, 2015.View More

China’s desire to be seen as a world economic power has been dealt a series of setbacks recently, largely of its own doing. The first setback occurred on June 9, when the MSCI global index declined to include China’s domestically listed shares in its emerging markets indices to the surprise of many, including Chinese authorities who thought they had done enough to satisfy MSCI’s criteria. In making its decision, MSCI pointed to investor concerns over the quota system by which institutional access to the market is determined, limited capital mobility and share ownership legal issues.

After marathon negotiations over the weekend, the outline of a new financial deal for Greece has been reached. Rather than ease the pain for Greece by making the new terms more palatable in the wake of the national referendum “no” vote, the European Union (EU) played hardball. The new terms are harsher and will be more difficult to implement than the deal that was rejected in the referendum. The new deal is a defeat for Prime Minister Tsipras, who is being asked to sign on to reforms that are anathema to his Syriza party. It is also a defeat for the nationalistic impulse of the Greek people as reflected in the “no” vote, which was ultimately ignored by the country’s creditors. But if Greece desired to stay in the Eurozone, it had no choice but to accept the terms of the new offer. Its banks remained closed and its economy had ground to a halt. It had no more cards to play.

And while this drama may finally be coming to an end, it is not over yet. Because such a lack of trust between Greece and its creditors developed during six months of mostly fruitless negotiations and rollbacks of previously agreed-to reforms, under the terms of the new agreement, the Greek parliament must pass a series of reforms by this Wednesday before formal negotiations on the details of the new deal can begin. But because these reforms are so sweeping and intrusive, there is no assurance they will pass. The deal must also be passed by other EU member parliaments where debate is likely to be acrimonious. And not until all of this is accomplished will discussions regarding debt relief begin, a step that most consider critical to any chance of Greek economic revival.

The market reaction to the Greek referendum “no” vote has been surprisingly muted, at least so far. In late day trading on Monday across the European exchanges, Eurozone stocks were lower by about 2.0 percent, with the exception of Italy which is experiencing a 3.5 percent selloff. At midday, stocks on the U.S. exchanges are lower by less than 0.4 percent. The German 10-year note yield is lower by just 2 basis points, while Portuguese yields are higher by 24 basis points. Spain and Italy are also higher by 16 and 14 basis points respectively. The U.S. 10-year note yield has fallen by just five basis points, while the Euro has barely budged.

Developments in Greece evolved rapidly over the weekend. In the early morning hours on Saturday, Greek Prime Minister Tsipras called for a national referendum, to be held on July 5, to determine if his government should accept the conditions offered by its creditors for an extension of its existing financial bailout agreement.

However, since the existing bailout agreement expires on June 30, Greece needed a five day extension in order to meet its financial obligations due at month end, including 1.5 billion euros due to the International Monetary Fund. European Union finance ministers refused to grant an extension, turning their focus instead on containing the fallout from a possible Greek default, all but ensuring that Greece will miss the scheduled payments.

Minneapolis – (June 24, 2015) – Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP), today released the results of the new Retirement 2.0SMstudy, revealing that the majority of Gen Xers (76%) report proactively planning for their retirement, with eight in 10 (79%) respondents currently saving through a 401(k) plan, and seven in 10 (69%) investing in an IRA or similar account.View More

MINNEAPOLIS – June 22, 2015 – Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) plans to announce its second quarter 2015 financial results on Wednesday, July 22, 2015 after the close of the New York Stock Exchange. The company will host a conference call to discuss the results on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at approximately 9:00 a.m. (ET).View More

At last week’s meeting the Federal Reserve adjusted lower both its assessment of 2015 U.S. GDP growth and the projected rate of increase in fed funds over the next two years. In doing so it moved slightly closer to the prevailing view of the marketplace, which has been consistently less optimistic about the pace of the economic recovery. But it also maintained its expectation of two quarter point rate increases this year, implying a likely liftoff in September, assuming the data between now and then reinforces the Fed’s acknowledgement of the recent rebound of activity from the sluggish first quarter.